Zara Naeem Dar, a Pakistani student was recently declared the global prize winner for scoring the highest marks in the financial reporting exam of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) conducted in December 2020.
Zara credits this success to her father (also pictured) who's always encouraged all the girls in the family to pursue their dreams and smash all artificial barriers. pic.twitter.com/8cG4sCzUqr
— ACCA Pakistan (@ACCA_PK) February 12, 2021
Government of Pakistan confirmed the news by dedicating a post to the prodigy. “A very proud moment for Pakistan as Zara Naeem has been declared the global prizewinner for scoring the highest marks in ACCA,” they shared on Monday.
The Federal Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar also took to Twitter to appreciate Dar. “I keep saying this. Give Pakistani girls an equal chance and they can take on and beat the best in the world. Proud of Zara Naeem and wish her the best in her future goals,” he wrote.
I keep saying this... Give Pakistani girls an equal chance and they can take on and beat the best in the world. Proud of #ZaraNaeem and wish her the best in her future goals pic.twitter.com/WPfmAfAOB0
— Asad Umar (@Asad_Umar) February 16, 2021
However, news of Dar’s achievement did not travel nearly as fast and effervescently as the Dananeer Mobeen’s ‘pawry’ video, which went viral earlier this week. Now, the comparison between the two has raised several questions on Twitter.
To party or not to party
Contrary to Dar, Mobeen is a 19-year-old social media influencer hailing from Peshawar who creates content on a range of topics from the latest fashion trends to mental health issues. She shot to fame after a video of her quirky representation of ‘burgers upon visiting the Northern areas of Pakistan’ took social media by storm.
In the video, Mobeen can be heard saying, "Yeh hamari car hai, aur yeh hum hein, aur yeh hamari pawri horae hei (This is our car, this is us, and this is our party).” The footage has since been recreated hundreds of times with the hashtag #PawriHoriHai recurring on various social media platforms after trending for two days on Twitter.
The clip also transcended borders and to everyone's amusement turned into a song, courtesy of Indian content creator Yashraj Mukhate. Following this, Mobeen’s remix of the video garnered 10 million views in two days on YouTube.
Now, Twitterati are drawing parallels between her and Dar, to understand where the priorities of most Pakistanis lie. “On the left is a girl who made a random video a couple of days ago and almost every Pakistani knows about her today. On the right, you see a girl who topped in ACCA exams globally. The international media talked about her but hardly any of us know about it,” complained a user on Twitter.
On the left, The girl who made a random video couple of days ago and almost every Pakistani knows about her today.
— محمد اسلم ندیم (@MeerHadi21) February 16, 2021
On the right, you see the girl who topped in ACCA exams globally, couple of days ago, international media talks about her but hardly, some of us know about it. pic.twitter.com/N0Dpv8nL0k
Another shared pictures of a trove of TikTokers along with Mobeen and wrote, “On one side we have these people who are known by most Pakistanis and on the other, we have students like Zara who score the highest marks globally. It's all about PRIORITIES.”
On one side people known by most Pakistanis on OTHER side Pakistani Student Zara who has Scored the Highest Numbers In ACCA globally, it's all about PRIORITIES💔 pic.twitter.com/EQH0Gs4gn9
— Syeda Trimzi (@TrimiziiiSyeda) February 15, 2021
But there were also, a numbered few who refrained from comparisons, understanding both Dar and Mobeen aimed to cater to two separate segments of society. “These Pakistani girls are making us proud globally,” they wrote. “First it was Dananeer Mobeen with the super-viral #PawriHoriHai clip and now Zara Naeem Dar, who scored the highest marks in ACCA exams worldwide, so proud. Consistency and hard work always breeds opportunities and milestones.”
Pakistani girls making us proud globally, first it was @DananeerM with super viral #pawrihorihai clip and now Zara Naeem Dar with highest marks in ACCA exams world wide.
— Jehad Zafar (@Jehad_Zafar) February 15, 2021
So proud MashAllah.
Consistency and hardwork always breed opportunities & milestones.#ZaraNaeem #dananeerr 🇵🇰 pic.twitter.com/XYnMq09afG
Netizens, however, are still arguing if Mobeen did anything significant at all. “Stop making stupid people famous!” demanded a user, angrily. “Our priorities are clear, we just want to talk about #PawriHoriHai,” tweeted a user. “A 9th grader made a world record for arranging elements of the periodic table in 1:58mins at ISF2021 and now we have a girl who scored the highest in ACCA exam globally. But this kind of talent doesn't get enough acknowledgment here,” pointed out another.
The student Rohan Kumar a 9th grader from Thar has made world record for arranging elements of periodic table in1:58mins at ISF2021. And the girl who scored highest in ACCA exam. But this kind of talent doesn't get enough acknowledgement................. (1)#pawrihorihai#ACCA
— Amna Tahir (@AmnaTahir_) February 14, 2021
“Congratulations [Zara Naeem Dar]. But this can't be in the news because we can't celebrate this as much since we are quite busy with making memes on #pawrihorihai,” quipped one more.
👏👏👏👏
— Roha (@OptimisticRoha) February 15, 2021
Congratulations......
But this can't be in news or we can't celebrate this as much bcz we are quiet busy in making memes on #pawrihorihai!!!!!😶😶
Our priorities are something else maybe!!!#ACCA pic.twitter.com/C9vHoip4xS
Aside from numerous social media users, even celebrities including Saba Qamar, Aijaz Aslam, Falak Shabbir, Hania Aamir and Wasim Akram have recreated Mobeen’s video. But here’s hoping more heroes and deserving personalities are also celebrated and made popular in the same way.
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